Alternatives To Out-Of-Home Placement For Families

BY LAUREN AGORATUS, M.A. Families and individuals need to visualize what they want as goals to see if the program is a good “fit” and if they can picture the person in that environment. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) just published “Out of Home Placements for Children and Adolescents with Disabilities.” This document provides compassionate but incomplete guidance on a difficult decision for families, and presents out-of-home placement as a last resort. Some placements […]

Going Solo

BY KIMBERLEE RUTAN MCCAFFERTY To the casual onlooker it was not a remarkable scene. A middle-aged mom trudging through the rain, huge beach bag slung precariously over her shoulder while clutching the hands of a ‘tween and a younger son, heading for the relative paradise of a movie theater overhang. If anyone had cared to look they would have viewed a grim determination in her eyes, a desire to reach her destination etched into the […]

Youth Participation In Transition Planning

BY VALERIE LEITER In 2004, Congress added new transition requirements to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), striving to improve youth outcomes after high school. These new requirements say that the Individual Education Program (IEP) must include “appropriate measurable postsecondary goals” and the “transition services… needed to assist the child in reaching those goals.” They also give students the right to participate in planning once their IEP meetings focus on transition from school. It […]

Antiepileptic Drugs (AED’S) Used In Those With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: For Better Or Worse? Part 3

EPILEPSY & SEIZURES SERIES • PART THREE BY BY SETH M. KELLER, MD How does one differentiate between all of these medications and choose which is best? How does the availability of generic AED’s impact upon these choices? How is an individual with IDD affected by AED’s? Adults and children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) commonly have a number of chronic health conditions which can affect their quality of life and activities of daily […]

Medications Used In Epilepsy – Part 2

EPILEPSY & SEIZURES SERIES • PART TWO BY BY PATRICIA MCGOLDRICK, NP & STEVEN M. WOLF, MD The mainstay of treatment for epilepsy is medications. The goal of any therapy is to control seizures with minimal side effects and to achieve it by using as few medications as possible. When seizure control is not achieved, it is time to rethink the regimen and look at alternative treatments, including surgery and diet. Seizures occur when there […]